‘Deliberate attack’: explosion damages Jewish school in Amsterdam

Original article by Donna Ferguson and agencies

An explosion has damaged a Jewish school in Amsterdam in what the city’s mayor described as “a deliberate attack against the Jewish community”.

The explosion early on Saturday in a residential neighbourhood on the south side of the city caused limited damage, the mayor, Femke Halsema, said in a press release, as police and firefighters arrived at the scene quickly.

No injuries were reported. The police had CCTV footage of a person placing the explosive device, Halsema said.

Security at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the Dutch capital had already been heightened after an overnight arson attack at a synagogue in central Rotterdam on Friday.

Later that day, police arrested three men, aged 18 to 19, and a 17-year-old boy. Officers stopped a car that was driving suspiciously near another synagogue, with the description of the driver matching one of the perpetrators of the attack on the synagogue.

Police said they were launching a “large-scale investigation into this serious incident” and appealed for witnesses to come forward. “It is not yet clear whether the suspects planned to detonate an explosive or set fire to another synagogue as well,” a police spokesperson said in a statement. No potential motive was given for the arrests.

An unverified video showing an explosion near a building resembling the targeted synagogue was circulated on social media on Friday, and police said they were examining this as part of their investigation.

In neighbouring Belgium, an explosion caused a fire at a synagogue in Liege on Monday.

Halsema said of the school attack: “This is a cowardly act of aggression against the Jewish community.

Jewish people in Amsterdam are increasingly confronted with antisemitism. This is unacceptable.”

Concerns about possible attacks against Jewish communities around the world have risen since the US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the response from Tehran.